Arson investigator Sean Reddy said Tuesday he’d spotted Roberts on Reservoir Avenue, and he matched the description of a man determined to be the suspect in surveillance video seized from a drugstore earlier in the week. Reddy said Roberts confessed, saying he set the fire by igniting toilet paper in a cardboard box in front of the Sunny Market Place. The flames then spread to two adjoining businesses; all three are out of business.

Roberts is charged with first degree arson; a conviction could carry a life sentence.